Anomalies: Control

They made their way to the lower side of the city, to the older, rundown buildings that used to be considered skyscrapers back in the day, before the building code norm became triple digit stories high. These 60 story buildings were just remnants of the past, and hid the darker underside of the city’s population under the guise of being ‘historical monuments’.

Rune led him to one in particular that looked like all the others, tall and run down and dirty, and slipped in the front. He followed, careful to keep close to her as she went to the door marked ‘stairs’. He wanted to groan, wanted to complain, but the few times he’d done that on the way there had caused her to snap at him, and between her being his only option for shelter tonight and her weird, destructive ability, he’d decided he was safer to just keep his mouth shut.

Up, up, up, past the tenth floor, past the fifteenth and the twentieth, and just after the first couple floors he was staring blankly at his feet, just hoping to keep moving, trying to distract himself with thoughts of the people he’d left behind. If only he could think about something other than today.

A hand on his shoulder woke him from his catnap, and he was startled back to consciousness to see Lily next to him. Once he’d relaxed at the sight of her, she sat next to him, keeping an obvious ear out for anyone coming into the kitchen to see her sitting next to the tied-up Cole.

“This is all my fault,” she said, watching the door to the kitchen in a forced way that suggested she was trying not to look at him.

He shook his head, tilting his to try to get her to look at him. “It’s not your fault Lily. With that little girl in our house, it was only a matter of time before someone found her, and I would have fought then, too.”

“But why?” she asked, genuinely confused and upset. She lifted her eyes to his, though it took a little too obvious an effort.

“Because no one deserves what’s most likely going to happen to her. And she’s just a little kid.”

“She’s an Anomaly.”

He sighed as she voiced the general opinion of Anomalies. He knew he was in the minority in his opinion, but it’d be nice if someone- anyone- agreed with him once in a while. Or hell, at least understood where he was coming from. But that was a little too much to hope. “Yeah. She is that,” was all he ended up saying, and Lily leaned against the wall without leaving, sensing she’d upset him, but not entirely sure why. They sat like that in silence for a while longer, until that dreaded knock sounded. He pushed at Lily with his shoulder. “You have to go.”

“What’s going to happe-”

“Now, Lily. Go.” He shoved her harder with his shoulder, and she scrambled to her feet, slipping out of the kitchen. He closed his eyes, listening as Greg came down the stairs to answer the door, hearing the erratic tapping of Laurel’s fingers on the banister, a nervous habit of hers. The voices were loud: neither the Officers- or whoever had been sent to get him- or Greg were making any effort to lower their voices.

“Mr. Callahan, I’m James Lewis with the Department of Pravitas research. I was told you had an unruly potential Anomaly?” Cole was trying to remember exactly what Pravitas stood for, but he was coming up blank.

“Yes, sir. We’re keeping him in the kitchen. He’s been tested...” Greg said, sounding unsure.

“I understand that sir. Our tests are efficient, but not always foolproof. A strong enough Gene Malfunction could trick the device into clearing the owner.”

Greg sounded shocked, and Cole couldn’t blame him. The prospect of an Anomaly able to hide in plain sight right under your nose would scare anyone. “He’s never displayed-”

“Not all gene anomalies in the Vario Disorder are intentional, Mr. Callahan. The ones that are the most dangerous are the ones the owner has no tangible control over.”

Pravitas! Homo Sapien Pravitas, now he remembered. He’d learned it in some biology class, it was the new genus and species for anyone with the Vario Disorder. Anyone who was an Anomaly.

“Well. Let me show you to the kitchen.”

He opened his eyes, waiting for the adults to come in, and was surprised to see a normal-looking (if slightly on the short side) man walk in with Greg, looking perfectly pressed in a grey suit and matching grey fedora with black pinstripes. He made his way to Cole, who shrank back against the wall in preparation for whatever this guy was going to throw at him.

He shook his head, realizing they’d reached a floor she’d stopped at, twenty-three, where she finally led them onto the floor with a wave of her hand. A buzzing, short circuiting sound made him turn his head as she opened the door, and spotted a fuse box that was short circuiting, and briefly wondered what that was about, and what the box had done to offend her.

The floor was fairly crowded with people- with Anomalies- and they all looked over as he and Rune walked in, the mixed roar of talking lowering to an almost indiscernible level as the different groups of people caught sight of Rune. He glanced at her, and frowned. She looked unhappy to be here; her eyes had narrowed and darkened to black, her hands were slowly clenching into fists and loosening, over and over again as she pretended not to notice the way the crowd subtly backed away as she passed. “Tech!” she shouted over the now quieted crowd. An Asian man came out of one of the random doors, in his late twenties, wiping his oil-blackened hands with a rag and grinning at the sight of Rune, the first person not to go silent or back away from her.

“Ah, it’s my favorite surly enchantress! To what do we owe the honor?”

She glanced at Cole, and then to the room Tech had come out. The older man nodded and waved them in, and Rune laid a hand on Cole’s shoulder, protected by his still wet shirt. Right before they walked in, Tech turned to one of the quieted people. “Clothes, please,” he said, and the girl nodded before running off, and Tech closed the door behind them, going to sit on the desk, which was already mostly filled with electronics and machine pieces all in various stages of dismemberment. “What’s up? Who’s this you’ve got with you?” He was looking to Cole curiously, and Cole felt that instinctual reaction and kept his eyes on the ground, wishing Rune would have left her hand on his shoulder. Tech seemed to choose not to comment, and turned back to Rune, who was still scowling even in the face of Tech’s indifference to her bad mood.

“He’s a friend. I need you to call up Tracker,” she said, and Cole glanced to her in a panic. Tracker? That didn’t sound good. She rested a hand on Cole’s shoulder again, and even with his eyes turned down, he didn’t miss the odd look Tech shot him.

“What for?”

“What do you think for Tech?” she snapped, and weirdly enough, Tech smiled and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He reached for the large walkie-talkie on his desk and pressed a button. “Tech to Tracker, do you copy?”

A female voice came over the frequency. “Tracker, copy. I’m not coming up, Tech. I felt her arrive.”

“C’mon, Track, just for a little while,” Tech wheedled.

“No way! I’m not coming within twenty yards of that-”

Rune made a growling sound and grabbed the walkie-talkie out of Tech’s hand, snapping into the mic: “Either you come up here now or I come find you, at which point our conversation will be much less cordial than it could be. Get it sweetheart?”

Tech rolled his eyes but didn’t stop Rune, and Tracker’s annoyed and sullen voice came back after a few long seconds. “I’ll be up in five.”

“Awesome.” Rune’s voice dripped with sarcasm. She tossed the walkie back to Tech, who was watching her with a chiding look. “Now, now, no need to be snappish.”

She didn’t respond except to growl, and Cole watched her curiously out of the corner of his eye, wondering if this was really the same teasing, smirking woman that had dragged him off the streets. Because this person was a lot harsher, a lot meaner, and he wasn’t sure he liked this side of her.

A knock on the door re-directed their attention, and the girl Tech had spoken to peeked her head in, holding dry clothes. “I got the closest estimate for you.” she said, speaking to Cole. “And yours,” she said, her tone a bit more nervous and distasteful all at once as she addressed Rune.

Cole smiled at the girl, glancing up at her for a second, and she grinned at the sight of his smile, seemingly unaffected by his eyes. Huh. He might be able to get used to this after all. He took the clothes, and heard Rune speak to Tech past his own thoughts.

“... needs a room...”

He looked at her curiously, as Tech nodded. “Of course. Banshee, can you show him to a room to change?”

The girl nodded and gestured for Cole to follow her, noting that Rune didn’t leave the room with him, catching a blush-causing glance at her back as she stripped off her shirt. Tech laughed and turned away, rolling his eyes again, and Cole wondered what was going on between them. The girl led him away from the room, and he got his first good look at the place. There were cubicles set up like in those T.V. shows he and the others used to secretly watch from the stairs during Greg’s “me time” in the living room. Bullpen, that’s what it was called; a bunch of fabric covered half walls dividing what sort of looked like sad little campsites, different sleeping bags and backpacks half hidden in the cubicles. There was almost no privacy: where did they shower and use the restroom? He shook his head, figuring it couldn’t be worse than sharing one bathroom with a dozen foster kids, even if these people were strangers, and Anomalies to boot, and instead focused on the cute girl leading him away from Rune.

Banshee, as Tech had called her, was cute, maybe a year younger than him by the looks of it, but she had that hard edge he’d come to associate with street kids and Anomalies - who were admittedly the majority of street kids and dwellers, since no one would do any sort of business with them. She had functional clothes, long shorts and a long-sleeved tee, an asymmetrical bob-style haircut that hung to her ear on one side, and all the way down to her chin on the other, successfully hiding her Mark. But she didn’t seem as cagey as Rune did. Where Rune looked ready to bolt or fight the second she got within the confines of the walls, Banshee looked perfectly at ease, like there wasn’t anything to worry about inside the building. She looked back at him, and they both blushed a little, her at being watched, him at being caught watching her, and she glanced back in the direction they’d left Rune, looking like she was going to say something, but at the last minute deciding against it, and simply going toward the office doors that surrounded the bullpen.

She opened a door seemingly at random for him and smiled at him, blushing lightly, and he thanked her as he went in to change. The clothes were a little big, but clean, and warm, and he was grateful for them. He opened the door, and didn’t see Banshee, so he went back to the room he and Rune and Tech had been in. He knocked before going in, and Tech called to him to come in. He hovered in the doorway, blushing again at the sight of Rune, re-dressed in different clothes that looked strikingly similar to the ones she’d been wearing before, dark jeans and a long sleeved top, still in her riding boots and with fingerless gloves on each hand. They must be her own clothes, but he wondered if the extra coverings- long sleeves, gloves- had anything to do with him and what happened when they touched earlier.

He opened his mouth to speak but was caught off guard by a slammed door behind him, and turned to see a girl about Rune’s age come stomping in with a scowl to match Rune’s. She stomped over to the room he was standing in the doorway of, and he felt a hand on his upper back, and turned to see Rune standing next to him as Tech slipped by him out of the room. “Thanks for coming, Track.”

“Like I had a fucking choice,” she snapped, and Rune smirked, her voice lilting sarcastically. “But we appreciate it all the same,” she said, looking down at Cole. “This little ball of sunshine is an Affector,” she explained without really explaining, but luckily she didn’t stop there. “She can find other Anomalies, and depending on the person and the strength of their ability, she can figure out what they are.”

“And then there are people like Rune here, who just bleed their abilities all over everyone around her,” Tracker sneered. Rune looked over at her with a growl, but then Tech was stepping between the two girls. “Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty. Let’s move on. Tracker, can you figure him for anything?” he asked, unintentionally letting Cole know they’d discussed him while Rune had changed.

Tracker shrugged. “Why should I? Who is he? What’s he to us? How do we know we can trust him, especially when she’s the one bringing him?” she said, rattling off her reasoning to not answer Tech’s question, and just as suddenly turning her attention to Cole directly. Caught off Officer, he met her eyes for a second, then dropped them to the ground instinctually, and she didn’t seem to catch the odd color. “Well, new person?” She bit off the words like a pitbull. “What’s your name?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but it was Rune’s voice that spoke over his. “Lay off, Tracker. He’ll tell you his name when he wants to. Just answer the fucking question.”

Tracker looked about ready to haul off and hit Rune, but Tech was still in between them, so she huffed an annoyed breath and looked back at Cole, who looked up to meet her eyes this time, buoyed by his prickly defender. She seemed to be the first surprised by his eyes, but the surprise faded as she frowned. “I can’t tell what, but he’s definitely Anomaly,” she announced, and Cole protested immediately, looking up to meet her eyes fully.

“I am not an Anomaly. It’s a birth defect, I’m not like-” he cut himself off before the last word came out, but it was too late; Tracker took a threatening step forward, and he felt himself wilt back. She was tall for a woman, and while she was thin, there was a skittish, jittery sort of threat about her that made Cole think she wouldn’t hesitate to just shoot him or something equally quick and final.

But then Rune was stepping in front of him, blocking Tracker’s access to him, and the two women faced off while Tech tried to step between them again. The air around them crackled with power, and he figured it was coming from Rune, because the other kids surrounding them were watching her with apprehension and fear. “Ladies, cool it down, now,” Tech ordered sharply, his previously amiable voice suddenly seeped in steel.

Cole’s money was on Rune, now that he had a good look at battle-ready Rune. Her eyes glowed obsidian and her fingers were twitching like she’d like to just get her hands around Tracker’s throat, and her aggressive stance suggested that hesitation was a word she didn’t know the meaning of. Furniture was starting to vibrate and shudder, and he looked to Rune, wondering exactly what her power was. Telekinesis? It seemed like telekinesis, but as far as he knew, telekinesis was something you had to focus on, whereas hers seemed to be a subconscious effort.

“You had better back up a step, sweetheart,” Rune threatened darkly, still positioned in front of Cole.

Tracker backed her step up, but continued to glare at Rune, sparing an equally venomous glance for Cole, which made Rune growl again and further position herself in front of him. Tech had weaseled his way between the two women, and had a hand braced against Tracker’s shoulder, keeping her away from Rune, and pinned Rune with a look about as heavy as a hand, though he was careful not to touch her. She was still tense, and Cole recognized that look; she was ready to either bolt or fight. He’d choose bolt, but he had a feeling she would always choose fight. And without really considering the consequences, and because he didn’t have anywhere to go if she got them tossed out, he reached out and wrapped his hand around her arm, not pulling her back, but definitely getting her attention; hers and everyone else’s around them. A mass, almost silent intake of shocked breath made him realize what he’d done. Tracker looked to Rune like she was crouching for an attack, and the people filling the room slowly inched even further away or nearer to each other.

But strangest of all was Rune, who glanced down at his hand on her arm and up at him for a split second, then fell back a step, lifting her chin imperiously and looking at Tech, who quickly covered for the weirdness, even as Tracker was still watching slack jawed. “You’ll need somewhere to sleep,” he said, turning to look for someone or something.

“Not with her around,” Rune snapped, jerking her head to Tracker, who finally regrouped her thoughts and sneered at Rune.

“Trust me, I’ll be staying as far away from you and your disaster zone as possible,” Tracker tossed back. “Tech, I’ll be staying uptown, cool?”

“Course, Track,” he said, and Tracker stalked over to an office door and into it, slamming it behind her. Tech looked to the pair still standing with him, and waved Banshee back over. The girl came running, though she was careful to stand on Tech’s far side, away from Rune, and Cole felt his protector’s muscles tense even further under his hand. He gently squeezed her arm, but she didn’t so much as blink in response, though her tightly coiled muscles seemed to relax a little.

“Go show our new arrival to the room across from Rune’s,” he said, looking from the girl up to Rune, his eyes serious. “Rune and I need to talk.”

Rune rolled her eyes but nodded for Cole to go with Banshee. “I’ll come find you when I’m done,” she said, and he nodded, going over to Banshee, who was eyeing him warily. They walked to a room, the awkward silence stretching between them like a chasm, preventing any sort of casual conversation.

They reached the door that was to be his, and Banshee opened it, leading him in. “It’s not much, but there’s the bathroom down the hall. Or there’s one in Rune’s room...” she added, letting the sentence hang leadingly, and Cole wanted to chuckle at her not-so-subtle attempt to figure if anything was going on between him and Rune. “Down the hall, got it,” he said, looking around the room. It was barren, but there was a mattress on the ground with a blanket and a pillow, and a window looking outside, reminding him that he could be out in the rain, instead of warm and dry. Thanks to Rune.

He turned back to Banshee, who was hovering by the wall near the door. “What’s it like, having to be here? Having to be hidden?”

“Well, Bright Eyes, not all of us have to stay hidden. Some of us do, because we can or because we just have no reason to go out, but some of us like being out in public, reminding us of what we had.”

He turned away, scowling, and he felt her come up behind him, her voice sympathetic. “And some of us just prefer to hide away and lick our wounds in peace for a while.”

He turned to her, and she smiled at him, going to sit on his mattress. “So. How’d you hook up with Rune?”

He shrugged. “She found me, I didn’t really have much choice in the matter.” He smiled at the thought

“So she what - dragged you here by your collar?” Her voice dripped doubt, and he laughed, going to sit next to her on the mattress.

“Not exactly. But she offered food, and a roof...”

“And protection...” her voice lilted suggestively, still prying. He felt himself bristle, but stamped it down. She had a right to pry; he was a newcomer in her home, brought by someone obviously no one but Tech trusted. And he couldn’t expect a street kid to be as subtle as a regular citizen would be. Lily was great at the art of subtle question.

His heart clenched. He hadn’t thought of Lily since he’d left the house. He hoped she was ok. He felt awful for abandoning her; he hoped Henry could get over himself and keep her safe, but he knew it was a lot to hope for.

The foster siblings and their mother all stayed still as the Officers left, until Laurel turned to them all with a snap. “Well, what are you doing just standing there? You three: finish dinner; the rest of you stay out from underfoot. Go!” Everyone ran to do as instructed, except Cole, who wearily made his way to the pasta noodle pot, not bothering to rush.

Dinner was a silent affair, Laurel too edgy and snappish to deal with any of the kids talking. Dinner finished, and the younger kids were instructed to clean the dishes and dispose of the paper ones, the older three instructed to make sure it was done to Laurel’s exacting specifications. Laurel herself went up to her room to “lie down” which only Cole and Lily knew was code for taking a hit off the illegal stash she and Greg kept in their room. Lily shoo’d away the younger kids and started washing the dishes herself, to Cole and Henry’s frowns. Again, though, it was Henry who voiced his objection.

“If you always do it for them, they’re never going to learn real world skills,” he said, irritable and just as edgy as Laurel after the Officer visit. Cole frowned at Henry. He was one kid in particular in the house that Cole worried about. Most foster kids only had a few options after they were kicked out of the foster house they’d been sent to. Either they managed to get some broom pushing, gopher-type job and spent the rest of their lives barely making ends meet, or they immersed themselves in the darkness of the city, drugs and violence. A few unlucky ones tried to appeal to the groups of Anomalies that ran the streets and managed to stay out of reach of the Officers, but those were the kids that no one heard from again. Whether they were accepted by the strange, genetically mutated groups and simply had help vanishing, or were disposed of as a threat, no one ever really wanted to ask. But the ones to worry about were the ones that embodied their foster parents and the adults that ran the city: they grew up to be the kind of cold, calculating men and women passing the harsh laws and harsher punishments. Cole didn’t want that life for Henry, didn’t want any of those choices for any of them, honestly, but that last one... it kept your body alive, but it killed your soul.

Lily, though, oblivious to the boys’ tension, simply rolled her eyes. “They’re young, they’ve got time to learn, and they’re all nervous after what happened.”

Henry rolled his own eyes in response. “Women,” he scoffed, going to the front door to watch the younger kids dispose of the paper plates. Lily shot a look to Cole, who was watching Henry walk away with an unreadable look.

“You know, we’re in the most trouble when we stop trusting each other…”

Banshee cleared her throat, and he realized he hadn’t answered her question. “I guess. I didn’t ask for protection, though.”

She nodded like she understood. “You’ve never been on the streets before, have you?”

“Is it that obvious?” he joked, and she laughed, nudging his shoulder with hers. “A little. You sort of stand out.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I?”

She blushed faintly, but nodded. “Yeah. Those eyes, for one, stand out anywhere,” she said, and rushed to amend her comment when he frowned. “I like them. That color is amazing.”

He nodded, but he’d lost the playfulness, and she seemed to sense that. But instead of leaving, like Lily probably would have, Banshee just flopped back on the mattress, propping her head on her arms behind her head. “Have you figured out what it is you are yet? I mean, I know Tracker didn’t know, but do you?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m not Anomaly, I don’t have any abilities.”

She eyed him warily. “None that you know of, anyway. Did Rune tell you what her abilities were?”

He shook his head. He could tell her about his suspicions, or about the weird freak out earlier, about the ringing words echoing in his head in Mr. Lewis’ voice about the most dangerous abilities being the ones that control the user instead of the other way around. But to say any of that to Banshee seemed like a betrayal to Rune. So he just shook his head again. “I haven’t asked.”

She sat up, looking incredulous. “You haven’t asked?!” She punched him in the arm, and he eyed her curiously, rubbing his arm. Girl didn’t hold back on her ‘playful’ punches. “You don’t just walk off with people without asking at least basic questions! What is wrong with you?! What if she’d been one of the rebel types, like the League or something?”

“What’s the League?”

Banshee flung herself back on the bed in exasperation. “You’re hopeless!” she cried, then sat back up and crossed her legs under her and faced him. “Ok, let’s break this down; do you know what this is and what it means for us specifically?” She pulled her sleeve up to reveal her barcode.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not stupid, we all have the barcodes. And it means someone can test you for Anomaly genes. That Vario disorder or whatever.” Kids were all tested when they were born, when they turned five, and when they turned ten. Researchers hadn’t yet figured if there was a particular age Anomaly genes became apparent, some kids showed early, some late. It depended on the kid and the strength of the ability. Kids that showed were marked in the system, as were any that managed to get by unmarked but ended up in trouble with the Officers later.

“Good to know. You obviously know us; we try to stay under the radar. The League is what the rebel ones call themselves. They think it makes them scary, having a name. They’re the ones you see all over the news, the ones that cause trouble and basically make life a living hell for the rest of us.”

“What do you mean?”

“They give Anomalies a bad name, as cliche as it sounds. They’re not that bad to other Anomalies if you run into them, but we try not to associate with them because you’re likely to find yourself either involved in an attack on some government building, committing petty crimes, or something else that ends in being caught by Officers. Nothing good happens when you get involved with them.”

He nodded, considering that. He wasn’t completely naive; he watched the news, he knew of what kind of things she was talking about. They were the rebels, the ones that opposed the government and the Officers and sector officials and Citizens. They were dangerous in the way that they didn’t care what happened to them so long as their point was made. True martyred anarchists. “But what do they have to do with Rue?”

She looked annoyed that she had to explain it and a little surprised that he’d nicknamed Rune. “Because as dangerous as they are, Rune is like, ten times worse, easily. Tech calls her an Enchantress, Tracker calls her a Jinx. Her power is like.... like telekinesis gone rogue. Say you had a guard dog, but it didn’t always listen to you. So if the dog thinks you’re in trouble- or just feels like biting something- the dog attacks, and you can’t call it off, and it’s just going to go, go, go until it’s satisfied. That’s what her power’s like. She’s a risk to everyone around her.”

He just continued to nod, and she frowned unhappily. He sensed she wanted something from him, an agreement to her statement, to ask for her advice, something. But despite what she was saying, the only time he’d ever been at risk from Rune was when they touched. She’d so far proven to be oddly protective of him. So Banshee was just going to have to be disappointed, at least until he found a reason of his own to distrust Rune. “Sounds intense,” he said, and she frowned at him.

“Yeah. So be careful. I’m still hoping to get to know you.”